Pokémon Go creator John Hanke has spoken about his plans for the game, which includes adding new AR features. When it launched in 2016, Pokémon Go became one of the earliest AR games to go mainstream.
It didn’t take long for the then-mobile exclusive game to amass millions of players which made it seem like almost everyone was a Pokémon trainer at one point. However, despite Pokemon GO utilising AR to bring Pokemon into the real world, many players chose to enjoy the game without the feature turned on.
This makes it rather interesting that Hanke wants to focus even more on the game’s AR elements. Speaking with the BBC, the Pokémon Go creator says, “2024 is going to be a breakthrough year for AR,” and that he aims to enhance the way Pokémon interacts with the real-world environment using AR.
AI-powered features
The creator went on to tease that there’ll also be a new AI-powered feature that’s currently in development, which should enable Pokémon to be, “Situated in the environment and respond to things in the environment in a realistic way.” Hanke says he’s also been watching the recent advances of Mixed reality devices such as Meta’s headsets and Apple’s Vision Pro.
“Those are the kinds of devices that we’re leaning into,” Hanke said. “Because they’re devices you can use when you’re out for a walk and with your friends, and they don’t get in your way.”
While it would take some time before players can experience Pokémon on the aforementioned MR devices, Hanke believes that it’s the future of play for gamers as mobile phones are too, “Distracting”.
However, while the creator of the game is hopeful about AR, it seems not all fans feel the same way. One Reddit user ‘Bacteriophag’ writes, “Cool, more functions to turn off,” in response to Hanke’s incoming AR features with many similar comments over at the Pokémon Go subreddit.
With the rapid advancements of AI and Apple’s Vision Pro set to launch next year, 2024 will indeed be a big year for AR and we can expect Hanke’s new Pokémon AR features to be released next year as well.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
